Rolling Stones retain youthful vigor in O.C.

Ronnie Wood, left, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones perform in concert Wednesday night in Anaheim in a stop on their 50 & Counting tour. It was the Rolling Stones' first appearance in Orange County since an Angel Stadium show in 2005, and their first shows at Honda Center since 1999, when it was called the Pond. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ANAHEIM – Picture that instant when the Honda Center lights go dark, the crowd roars, and slipping from the shadows the Rolling Stones arrive on stage. It's electric, a jolt, but for a moment, just a second or two, you have to wonder what you're going to get with a band, even one as legendary as the Stones, on the road to mark 50 years of music.

Turns out there's no need to worry. For by the time singer Mick Jagger gets to the first "Hey! You!" of the opener "Get Off of My Cloud," you're singing along and thinking that despite how old they might look – and they are well-weathered – they mostly play like the bright young English lads they were way back when, and they still sound very good indeed.

There's been plenty written about how pricey the tickets for this 50 & Counting tour are and that's certainly true. But despite the cost, you'd be hard-pressed to find many in the all-but-sold-out Honda Center who weren't thrilled to have been there Wednesday for these 22 songs in a show that ran nearly 2 1/2 hours.

That opening song found the four core Stones – Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, and drummer Charlie Watts – blazing through at a fast and precise clip. Fans who have seen them often in these latter years of the band's career tend to say the group seems tighter now than it did during their wilder days of the past, and that certainly felt true on Wednesday.

It's a show and a tour built around their hits, with all but two songs coming from albums released in 1981 or earlier. And so after the mid-'70s tune "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll," which saw Jagger strutting to the sides of the stage to fire up the fans in the furthest reaches of the stadium, it was back to the '60s for "Paint It Black," its original opening sitar riff played here on guitar.

Even though – or perhaps especially because – many of these songs long ago became staples of their live shows, it's remarkable how fresh they can feel in concert. You might imagine a song such as "Gimme Shelter" would be drained of the haunting menace with which it arrived on 1969's "Let It Bleed," but at Honda Center that brooding opening guitar riff from Richards built and built until Jagger came in, eventually joined by vocalist Lisa Fischer to wail away powerfully on the "It's just a shot away!" choruses.

Highlights during the first half of the set included the first appearance so far this tour of "Waiting on a Friend," which featured lovely contributions from keyboard player Chuck Leavell and tenor sax player Bobby Keys, both longtime touring members of the band. Another came with the arrival of this stop's celebrity guest appearance: John Mayer, who came out to sing and trade blues licks with Richards and Wood on "Champagne & Reefer," a Muddy Waters tune the Stones picked up years ago.

The midpoint of the show offered up the only new songs, "Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot," both recorded for a 2012 greatest-hits album, and both sounding like familiar Stones songs with which you're not actually familiar.

After a break for Jagger, during which Richards sang lead vocals on "Before They Make Me Run" and "Happy," another nice bit of this anniversary tour unfolded with the appearance on stage of Mick Taylor, the Stones' lead guitarist from 1969 to 1974, for a version of "Midnight Rambler" that ran close to 10 minutes and featured all three guitarists roaring away.

The main set wrapped up with a long run of much-loved songs: "Miss You," which served as a dance-y bookend to "Emotional Rescue" played earlier in the night, "Brown Sugar," which had everyone in the crowd singing along, and a terrific take on "Sympathy for the Devil," on which Jagger's strong delivery of the lyrics was matched by the jagged, distorted blasts of sound Richards wrenched from his guitar.

As has been the case throughout the tour, the encore opened with a choral ensemble on stage to kick off "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (in Anaheim the singers were from the USC's Thornton Chamber Choir). As for most of the night, it felt like anything but going through the motions: Jagger sang it with commitment, Wood's solo was typically concise, and the band and choir together took it to a gospel-inflected peak.

Then, more fun, more classics: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," with Richards, in particular, tearing off one muscular riff after another, and grinning cheerfully at his band mates.

That Richards is alive at 69, given all the bad things he cheerfully acknowledges he did in his younger days, is no small miracle. But you look around the stage and you see Wood, 65, no stranger to drug addiction in his past and now proud to show off his well-toned arms in a sleeveless shirt, and Watts, 71, always the most elegant and reserved of Stones, and you think, why should this be their last tour, as they've sometimes hinted.

As for Jagger, well, he's just impossibly fit for 69, with the energy of a guy half his age, bounding around the stage and its protruding tongue-shaped ramp nonstop, strutting, throwing shapes and striking poses, and generally doing all the things you expect of him. He's clearly having a fine time on stage still.

And you think: This could be the last time, maybe the last time, but really, there's no reason why it should be.

Ronnie Wood, left, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones perform in concert Wednesday night in Anaheim in a stop on their 50 & Counting tour. It was the Rolling Stones' first appearance in Orange County since an Angel Stadium show in 2005, and their first shows at Honda Center since 1999, when it was called the Pond. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Singer-guitarist John Mayer joins the Rolling Stones on stage at the Honda Center Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ronnie Wood, left, and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones perform Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kent Crawford of Laguna Hills wears his Rolling Stones memorabilia on his hat and jacket at Wednesday night's show. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Mick Jagger, with Keith Richards on guitar, was in fine form Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones performs Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Mick Jagger, at 69, showed plenty of energy in the Rolling Stones' Wednesday night show at Honda Center in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Fans have their picture taken in front of a banner announcing the Rolling Stones' first appearance in Orange County since an Angel Stadium show in 2005. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones perform Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Keith Richards, 69, of the Rolling Stones performs Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Fan Alan Kraemer wears a jacket with a portrait of Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards on the back as he waits to see the band's show in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Singer-guitarist John Mayer plays while Mick Jagger chimes in on harmonica for the Muddy Waters' song "Champagne & Reefer" in concert Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A fans wears his concert hat for the Rolling Stones' first appearance in Orange County since an Angel Stadium show in 2005. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Singer-guitarist John Mayer joins the Rolling Stones in Wednesday night's concert, under an oversize projection of Keith Richards. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Fans wait to see the Rolling Stones in Anaheim on Wednesday night. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Ronnie Wood, left, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones perform in their 50 & Counting tour stop Wednesday night in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rolling Stones fan Alan Kraemer had business cards made for the band's show Wednesday in Anaheim. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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